Thursday, 1 November 2012

What is Bisphenol A?Bisphenol A (aka BPA) is an organic compound formed by the condensing of acetone with two equivalent amounts of phenol, or carbolic acid. It is colourless, and also without taste nor smell. It was discovered in 1891 by Russian chemist Aleksandr Dianin. One of BPA's earliest uses was in the 1930s when it was used to treat women whom were deficient in estrogen. Many medical fields saw it as an adequate substitute to mimic the female hormone's performance, however it was soon to be superceded by diethylstilbestrol (DES) as a suitable replacement. BPA was also used as a stimulant for physical growth in agricultural animals, most notably cattle and poultry.

In 1998, the Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI) introduced a code to separate the varying plastic types for recycling purposes. Ranging from 1 to 9 (but excluding 8), BPA is largely associated to class 7, falling under the polycarbonate family of plastic. It's also likely to be found within class 3 (Polyvinyl Chloride, PVC). Although BPA isn't regarded to be found of a sizable quantity within the other classes of plastics, the SPI doesn't rule out the possibility of BPA being in them. Just to realise the prevalence of BPA, it can be found in many things we use, including;

The main thing is to avoid eating out of plastic containers as much as you can. It'd be near-impossible to stop doing so completely, but for example if you drink out of glass bottles instead of plastic, or eat fresh, frozen or dried foods instead of the canned variety, you'd decrease your exposure to BPA. The same goes for cooking food in non-plastic materials - use glass, metals and porcelain where possible. As mentioned earlier, heating up plastics drastically quickens the leaching of BPA out from it into your food. Although there is no official icon or logo, so far, more and more products are displaying themselves as "BPA-free" which definitely makes things easier in one's choice to purchase or not. If you don't need a receipt from a shop for the things you've just bought, don't take it! You're reducing your BPA interaction there too. Below are a few sources that detail what you could do to reduce your intake of BPA: